The demo became a tournament — 2,056 humanoid robots take the field

Beijing's World Humanoid Robot Games put 2,056 robots from 666 teams across 51 events, with sprinting, soccer, table tennis, long jump, the 1,500 m, and free combat on the same program.1

The numbers get more interesting when the events stop looking alike. Xinhua recorded a 1,500 m winner at 2:21.64 and a long-jump winner at 7.97 m.2 AP's photo report also captured a humanoid being carried off the track after competing in the 1,500 m.1

That mix is the point. A single clip can make a robot look spectacular; a public tournament puts speed, ball play, balance, contact, and recovery in the same frame. The visual hook is the race. The engineering story is the range of tasks around it.